Why I Modernize Classics

One of the spiritual disciplines I practice is modernizing classical text. Why do I do it?

  1. It forces me to slow read classical texts that are rich in content but difficult in their language.
  2. It provides an means to generate language to restate the thoughts which then ingrains their ideas in my brain and heart.
  3. While the modernizations will never replace the original in richness, they do offer a reader who would, at first sight, not engage the difficulty of the original. Perhaps they can catch its concepts or, better, be compelled to wrestle with the original.
  4. I don’t want some of the classic writings, particularly the lesser known puritans, to disappear from the modern believer’s view.

In all my modernizations, I leave the original in the left column and in the right column offer my modernized interpretation. If others desire to read the modernizations then can easily look at the original to check my meaning. In certain works, I modernize phrase by phrase. In others, sentence by sentence. Each writer’s style dictates my method.

If you desire to pass on any modernization, you have my permission to do that. Please provide  full credit, including the reference to this site,  and insure that no edits are made. Theses are primarily for my own spiritual growth and I pass them on to be used for the sake of the Kingdom.

Lovestory: A Passionate Pursuit

Hear the message

Because everyone needs someone to love them when they are most unlovable. Some have blown it in life and thought, “I am such a disappointment to everyone who knows me.” Some have defiantly walked away from love rejecting the open arms of God who call us back to relationship. Some have given up, feeling unworthy to ever receive love again. Come find hope and restoration in the amazing love story of a man named Hosea.

Message 4 of the series.

Writers and Songwriters. Learn from Revisions.

The best writing coach I know is Roy Peter Clark. In his newest post, he notes how tracing an author or songwriter’s revisions can make you a better writer. Clark takes a few famous songs and shows their original lines and the final lyrics which you sing in your head. The original lines would have not allowed the songs to be nearly as meaningful lyrically. See the before and after.

Tartar Control and Confession. A Common Thread.

Tartar hides deep under our gums. Even after brushing it has to be dug out. When I know I have to go to the dentist I brush with extra diligence in the days approaching the appointment. And yet all this junk still comes out from under my gumline when the hygienist cleans with her instruments. Arrrgggghhhh! I thought I got that out.

I am learning that it is the same with confession and repentance. Sometimes I have to be really still for a long period and reflect to allow the Holy Spirit to scrape the recesses of my hearts. A cursory brushing won’t do.

Limited Atonement. Everybody Does It?

We all* limit the atonement.  Some its effectiveness and its efficacy (Arminians), others its extent (Calvinists).

A Calvinist says the death of Christ on the cross actually did something in that moment to free all those from sin and death who had been elected by God (insert one zillion verses here). It didn’t simply create the potential for men and women to be saved, but actually saved them in that instant. In their time, God granted them gift of faith. In this view, God gives a totally dead person mouth to mouth and resuscitates us from a state of death.

An Arminian would say that Christ died for all (insert hundred verses here), thus not limiting the atonement’s extent but rather its efficacy. It gave us the potential to be saved as we come in by our freewill selection choosing to participate in Christ by faith, but did not as a proper act actually secure our salvation when He said, “It is finished.” He gave a severely injured person a wake up slap about the head to awaken them from near unconsciousness and said, “Medical help is here, do you give us permission to administer it?”

Each limit the atonement in some way.

*“all” meaning those who hold to a view of the atonement that Jesus was our substitute. I am aware there are models which say that Jesus was simply a good moral example on the cross, etc. Not smoking those pipes. That post coming soon enough.

Thoughts? Questions?

Tiger Woods, Why You Must Find a Replacement

In his public apology, Tiger Woods stated, “Buddhism teaches that a craving for things outside ourselves causes an unhappy and pointless search for security. It teaches me to stop following every impulse and to learn restraint. Obviously I lost track of what I was taught.”

Regardless of whether Tiger lost track of what he was taught or instead walked away from it in willing rebellion, the golfer’s prescription for looking only within himself to try to repel outward cravings opposes the true functioning of our heart. Looking within leads to the failure of self-attempted morality. The answers to reducing desires are not pieced within us awaiting assembly. Our hearts are passion vacuums, seeking meaning from outside of self. Our heart, by design,  will always be a passion pursuer. A wrong desire or habit is not expelled from our lives by telling ourselves it is not to be desired. We will  not give up a previous passion until a new passion is in its place that has a greater satisfaction to empower us to release the first. Tiger might have been able to self-medicate his sin, or as he calls them mistakes, if his escapades had curtailed his greater passion to be great golfer.  Since his escapades seemed to not impinge upon his greater passion of winning tournaments, he allowed both to exist. It will be most difficult for him to release his sexual addiction until he finds a newer, more powerful passion–even than golf or maintaining his “brand” which failed him– to sustain his recovery.

What we learn from all of this.

The cessation of a all desire means the cessation of what it means to be human, despite the claims of Buddhism. Instead of denying that we should have cravings or calling the fact we have desire wrong, we should instead find a higher satisfier of our passions. Something that draws us so deeply that we gladly abandon our previously wrong cravings for the satisfaction of the new passion. Their are differing levels of passion that each outward object or pursuit generates within us. us.  Objects with higher levels of pull can displace older ones. To find the highest “object” worthy  of our passion should be our life’s pursuit. The highest object of  passion that fills our heart’s vacuum is God, known fully through His Son Jesus Christ. Having this proper and good passion allows us to release lesser passions that are temporal and fail to truly satisfy.

One of the best writers on this is Thomas Chalmers (1780-1847) in his work, The Expulsive Power of a New Affection. I am almost finished with a modernization on this which I will post this week. It is a great reading.

Excuse the Bugs. Please be Patient.

Beta-ing this standard theme and just realized some bugs in it. (IE7 users, i apologize). Also pdf inserts are not working on some computers where they can pull them up. If they get the bugs fixed this will be a killer theme. If not, well. I’ll give it a go and if they get worked out stick with it. Otherwise, off to thesis or another theme. I have faith John the Standard guy will make it happen. HELP HIM JESUS!

Pastors, Stop Doing Weddings

Pastors, stop doing weddings. Instead launch marriages.

It is joked around here that my agreeing to do someone’s wedding is a bit brutal. I don’t apologize. At the ceremony, I  stand in front of God and say to all listening that I sanction the marriage by the power vested in me by Him (and the Great State of Texas but that is another post). That is not a statement I make lightly. It has adjusted my approach.

Two things influenced me formulating this view.

1. A trip to Abba Love Church in Indonesia where they have a rigorous process that must be completed before the church will allow a wedding. The singles there joke, “It is easier to get into heaven than get married at Abba Love.” Another single said, “It is the second most important decision in your life. Shouldn’t you take it seriously?”

2. People asking me to marry them that know me pastorally at NorthWood but not as deeply personally. I don’t know their story or life situations in detail all the time.

Here is the document. Steal it and hack it anyway you want as long as it is for your own ministry use.

pre-marital-counseling-covenant-jordan
Do me a favor, if you have problems accessing this pdf, leave me a comment telling me what OS and browser you are using.

Quietness of Tongue: An Experiment

Years ago a friend gave me a personal challenge that I have never forgotten. The acronym is TBN, ironic, I know. Speak only if something is:

  1. True. Am I absolutely certain of the truth of something or is it simply hearsay. I don’t want to be trapped into trying to be the first to know something and getting the word out. Confession, I tend to fall prey to this at times. Don’t speak when 90% assured of truth but 100%.
  2. Beneficial. How can I make what I am saying redemptive?   I shouldn’t just critique without bringing solutions and a means to hope. Is the person I am sharing something with the one who needs to hear it? I shouldn’t be talking to person X about person Y if I have no intent of ever approaching person Y. Even then, the only reason X needs to know is if I am honestly seeking counsel. I have to be super careful here. Most of the time people are seeking sympathy about how someone treated them, not wise counsel as to their response.
  3. Necessary. Not everything is worth mentioning. What are the ramifications if I don’t say anything?

I am going to focus on this over the next several weeks. In some ways, it might mean that I become much quieter. However, I have found quieter people are usually perceived to be wiser. To be thought of that way would be just fine.